The Woman with the Burns
by ihewser
Summary: Nate hated the Commonwealth after the nukes dropped. He didn't think there was a single good thing about it. Well, that was until he met Lavinia.


Nate had only one thought as he wandered the commonwealth: what happened? How did humans let it get this bad? Glancing to the right he could see a woman, a woman that looked in worse condition than he was, standing there just staring off into the wastes. She looked as if she was remembering something but by the looks of her, she wasn't from any vault. He thought she had PTSD and sometimes Nate thought he had it, too. To the left of him, past his trusty companion Dogmeat, were the ruins of what was once a magazine store. _What I'd do,_ Nate thought, _to be able to lounge around and just read Grognak the Barbarian._

Nate, going against his urge to enter the magazine shop, veered to the right and slowly walked toward the lady. As he got closer he noticed that she wasn't only staring but she was also hyperventilating. Picking up the pace, he tried his hardest not to think back to the time when he was in the military and similar things happened all the time. "Ma'am! Are you okay?" Nate was within three feet of the woman.

Upon closer inspection, the woman was actually a young girl; no older than 25. Nate took a step in front of the girl and completely blocked her view at whatever she was looking at. She was about 5'5 and barely came up to Nate's chest. He finally had a direct portrait view of the girl and was left dumbfounded. One side of her face was completely scarred by a recent fire burn yet the other was completely untouched; one side of her face was ghoulish and disfigured, yet the other was young and beautiful; one side of her face had been through Hell and back yet the other had only been to Heaven; one side of her face had experienced the wasteland and the other had not.

Nate, not in the army nor anywhere in the wasteland, had never seen anybody who had such a face. They were either destroyed fully or not. This face, however, was both, and it was like a work of art to Nate. He found the young lady beautiful although she was not perfect. He put a large hand on the girl's small shoulder and repeated his question. This time the woman reacted.

Obviously, she had seen herself in the reflection of Nate's glasses because she studied it for a long time. Then, she looked down at her hands. She looked back up at Nate's glasses, all the while not actually noticing Nate, and fell to her knees, sobbing.

Dogmeat whimpered and took a slow trot to the girl's side. Nate crouched in front of the woman and finally was able to get her attention.

"W-w-who," the girl stuttered, "are y-you? Please, d-don't hurt me anymore. Please. P-please." She buried her face into Dogmeat's ribs and cried even louder.

"Hey, hey, shhh. Don't worry," Nate whispered, reassuringly, "I'm not here to hurt anyone."

The girl lifted her face from the dog and peered at the large man kneeled over her. "Then w-what do ya w-want?"

"Well, before I get into any quizzes or exams, I'd at least like to know your name. Mine is Nate." Nate removed his glasses and smiled.

She felt as if she couldn't help smiling back at Nate and said, "My name is L-L-Lavinia."

Nate only thought that Lavinia's mother must have been a scholar. He stood up, slowly so he wouldn't startle her, and held his hand out. Seeing her hesitation, Nate said, "don't worry, Lavinia. If I was here to hurt you, I'd have been done it. Just trust me. I'm no raider."

Lavinia gazed into the man's eyes for a second. Then she examined his facial features. He was slightly scarred and had a very rugged face, but he also had some boyishness about his face. His smile was wide and sunny, but also awkward and it made her trust him even more, for some reason. Lavinia grabbed Nate's hand.

After Lavinia was standing, Nate sarcastically commented, "shall I also carry you to the limousine, milady?" She only stared at him, confused. Nate laughed and tousled the girl's hair. He was glad to finally have someone to accompany him other than Dogmeat and it really lifted his spirits. He was in such a good mood that he could not stop himself from saying, "I promise, Lavinia, that I'll keep you safe," and then smiling, sheepishly.

This time Lavinia mussed Nate's hair up and laughed. Although Lavinia only just met Nate, she felt very safe and secure around him. "Let's just go somewhere safe and with a roof, man. This sun is starting to burn me. I feel my skin peeling already." They both laughed at this joke. Nate thought nobody else in the commonwealth had his sense of humor but he was proven wrong. That made him smile. The wasteland was just full of surprises.


End file.
